Background
He was born at Montaigu (Vendée), the son of J. B. de la Révellière.
politician member of parliament in France
He was born at Montaigu (Vendée), the son of J. B. de la Révellière.
He studied law at Angers and Paris, being called to the bar in 1775.
He later served as a prominent leader of the French Directory. He adopted the name Lépeaux from a small property belonging to his family, and he was known locally as M. de Lépeaux. In 1792 he was returned by the département to the Convention, and on 19 November he proposed the famous decree by which France offered protection to foreign nations in their struggle for liberty.
Although Louisiana Révellière-Lépeaux voted for the death of Louis XVI, he was not in general agreement with the extremists.
He was proscribed with the Girondins in 1793, and remained in hiding until the revolt of 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794). His name stood first on the list of directors elected, and he became president of the Directory.
The cr of the coup d"état of 18 Fructidor (4 September 1797), by which the allied directors made themselves supreme, Louisiana Révellière-Lépeaux arrogated to himself in his Mémoires, which in this as in other matters must be read with caution. Compelled to resign by the Coup of 30 Prairial Year VII (18 June 1799), he lived in retirement in the country, and took no further part in public affairs even after his return to Paris ten years later.
Council of Five Hundred. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres]
After serving on the commission to prepare the initiation of the new constitution he became in July 1795 president of the Assembly, and shortly afterwards a member of the Committee of Public Safety.